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Wearing a helmet to keep your head safe is not only an essential part of bicycle safety, it’s also the law for riders under 18 years old.
According to Hollister Police Department Senior Officer Staci Esqueda, it’s also a very good idea for older riders to wear one as well.
“If you get into a crash and hit your head,” she said, “you don’t have anything there to protect you. We want to make sure that head of yours can stay as safe as possible. Then if something happens, you have that protection.”
Brian Lucas, owner of Hollister’s Off the Chain Bikes, said that helmets are essential because a bicycle is a naturally unstable vehicle and, sooner or later, you will fall when you hit something or the bike slides out from under you.
Modern helmets, he said, can protect the head while also offering greater comfort and reduced bulk.
“Bicycle helmets are designed for lower speeds than motorcycles,” Lucas said, “so they can get away with a lot less material and better ventilation. But we don’t want them to be too loose, because if you hit the ground, there may be a second impact.”
He said a proper fit is important, so helmets come with adjustable straps to fit the rider’s head. He recommends helmets made with expanded polystyrene foam, which are suitable for use for three or four years, but said they should be replaced if the rider is ever in a fall.
“All helmets are one-use,” he said. “When you crash once, you should replace that because you have damage there. Sometimes you don’t see it; it could be cracks or something that you don’t recognize.”
Esqueda said that enforcement is more a matter of trying to educate riders than issuing tickets, so officers carry safety brochures that are appropriate for both children and adults.
“We can give a ticket to individuals who are not abiding by the law,” Esqueda said. “We more often than not stop the individuals and have a conversation with them or hand them brochures to give to their parents.”
She said that larger groups of 20 or 30 young riders present a challenge when trying to enforce bicycle safety laws.
“We try to get them to pull over and give them a warning,” Esqueda said. “But if we need to, we can call mom and dad to come and pick them up. A lot of times, they’ll probably be more in trouble with mom and dad than if they get a ticket.”
She said that kids might underestimate the chances of getting into an accident, so they need to be very careful.
“They might be in somebody’s blind spot,” Esqueda said, “or maybe the driver is just not looking for somebody on a bike. They might be looking for big cars and kind of glancing real quick, and they don’t necessarily see you.”
Esqueda said that there are quite a few traffic collisions in town with kids on bikes, scooters and skateboards.
“Things unfortunately happen,” she said. “I’m sure all of those people wish they had been wearing a helmet.”
Prundale resident Keith Defiebre said he’s a helmet enthusiast and thinks helmets are very important. The former professional mountain bike rider said he never rides without a helmet, and even if he’s just going down the street, he puts his helmet on.
“Anything can happen,” Defiebre said. “I’ve crashed just going to the store, just in a parking lot, I do something wrong, grab the brake wrong, hit something, and could fall literally at any moment.”
He said that the helmet protects him in many ways, and it has saved his life before.
“I raced professionally downhill for mountain biking,” he said. “I have to say that the helmet is like the most important part of the bike. Obviously, without your head, without your health, you ain’t going nowhere.”
He said he has learned his lesson about helmets after being in several bike accidents.
“I’ve crashed, hit my head, and had my helmet shatter. I had literally almost no problems at all. My helmet was completely shattered and destroyed, but I was able to walk away.”
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